Or, possibly, parasites?

Tell me bits, are you as upset about the parasites who looted Merril for billions after they had led her off a cliff? Or do they get a pass because they wear Isaiah suits?

That was what, a little over three and a half years ago, right? Would you call the 17,000 people who are still to this day living in hotels on the government dime, three and a half years...forty two months later, to be productive members of society?

Or, possibly, parasites?

Are you getting the picture, yet?

Sure. And in the parlance of the rightist, "The Unproductive Member of Society" is strictly defined as anyone making dollar one less than the speaker.

No, that definition would be reserved for someone not working by *choice*, and living off governmental largess. Unproductive members of society, tend to live off what most sane people would call 'theft'.

Dave, that's why political compass tests (online) are so useful. I test out as a centrist.

Every year or so I'll take a battery of the various tests. I'm always SDM (smack dab in the middle). Having a yardstick with at least a pretext of impartiality is helpful.

It’s also why appeals to tax “the rich” are so powerful. Almost everyone, even those making incomes well into the six figure range, figure they’re excluded.

Of course, which is why the estate tax is almost universally popular in the United States.

Dave, that's why political compass tests (online) are so useful. I test out as a centrist.

FWIW, I think one of the most amazing things of the last decades was they way power couples could burn through big salaries to become wage-slaves voluntarily. That couples with $250K incomes should be trapped in debt seems impossible ... but basically if you live in cash-flow mode you can trap yourself at any level. Buy a bigger house, lease a couple Lexis, put a vacation on the credit card ... that's all it takes.

In the parlence of a leftist, "The Rich" is strictly defned as anyone making dollar one more than the speaker.

Sure. And in the parlance of the rightist, "The Unproductive Member of Society" is strictly defined as anyone making dollar one less than the speaker.

I'm still scratching my head, though. After the recent election, a bunch of media personalities and Republicans went on and on about how this is still a "center-right" nation.

Compared to what? Were these supposed to be comparisons to Europe? Because you can't compare something to itself. You can't say America is center-right compared to America.

Perhaps following your theory, the people saying this considered themselves to be center-right, but also considered themselves to be the perfect representative of America. Hence, our nation is still center-right.

In the parlence of a leftist, "The Rich" is strictly defned as anyone making dollar one more than the speaker.

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"